“And if I did for my own ends, what then?”
“You love him? Answer! Answer or——”
“What is it to you? He is worth a woman’s love. But, my good friend, he does not love me. Give me your hand!” she suddenly commanded, soothing him at the same time by a caressing look. “Ah! I thought so. There is death, a violent death, in that palm of yours, death coming soon. And yet, my friend, you can avert it. But unless you take my advice and forget me from this night, unless you cease to be a spy and a traitor, before long you will have to reckon with the Vicomte de Nérac—it is written there—and then—” She let his hand drop with icy indifference, “c’est fini pour vous!”
“A fig for your old wives’ fables! I have sworn you shall be mine and you shall.”
“Stand back!” She sprang up.
“No!” For one minute he faced her and then, with a hunter’s cry on his prey, he had pinioned her wrist, and in that besotted grip she was powerless, though she struggled fiercely.
“No, ma mignonne, I, too, am strong. You shall learn you are only a weak woman after all.” He had whipped the dagger from its concealment by her heart, his arm was about her, his eyes the eyes of a victorious maniac.
“Kiss me at your will,” she murmured faintly. “See, mon ami, I resist no longer. Yes, you, too, are a man. I was only tempting you. I am not a number, but a woman. You have my secret, and I am yours!” No man could have resisted the intoxicating self-surrender in her eyes and voice, least of all George Onslow in the grip of unholy passion long thwarted.
Suddenly her released fingers closed like a vise on his throat. In vain he struggled, for he was choking. Her great natural strength was duplicated by rage and an insulted womanhood. She forced him on to the ground, livid, gasping for breath, and put a knee on his chest. “Mercy!” he faltered, “Mercy!”
With her left hand she tore the lace from her breast, and gagged him inch by inch. With her right hand still on his throat she produced a rope from her pocket and tied with practised skill his hands and feet. Then she rose and calmly rearranged her disordered dress and hair and quickly searched him for pistols and dagger.